Writers Gotta Read, Right? Poetry

Poetry for me started with Mother Goose, many many decades ago. I still have a fondness for the old nursery rhymes, but of course, there's much more to this particular genre. To help you (and me) celebrate/appreciate Poetry Month, I wrangled together the “list of lists" below. So, hickory, dickory, dock, let's hop to it! (Or should that be hickety, dickety, dock?)

Hickety Dickety Dock 2, by William Wallace Denslow
Public Domain 

• Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, turned to experts for A Real Poet’s Poet: 11 Favorite Poets on What They’re Reading for Poetry Month
• Bustle offers 14 collections in Here’s Your National Poetry Month Required Reading List
• New York Public Library’s “Poetry Committee” chimes in with It’s Poetry Month: Here Are NYPL’s Best Poetry Books of 2020
• Because I’m a fan of haiku (a little volume of Little Enough is sitting by my desk), here is Read Poetry’s 10 Vivid Haikus to Leave You Breathless 
• Moving beyond Mother Goose, this Scholastic post lists 18 Books for Poetry Month, with volumes for PreKers to 8th graders.
• If your poetry taste runs more to limericks, you might peruse this Pun.me post of 74 limericks.

Finally, if you’d like to “take a gander” at Mother Goose, her (possible) origin, and all those familiar children’s poems from the past (plus a bunch you may never have heard of) check out this All Poetry post. Be sure to scroll down to the list of poems and their links.

If you have a favorite poem or poet or poetry collection, let us know in the comments! We all need more to read, right? ☺

Ann Parker authors the award-winning Silver Rush historical mystery series published by Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks. During the day, she wrangles words for a living as a science editor/writer and marketing communications specialist (which is basically a fancy term for "editor/writer"). Her midnight hours are devoted to scribbling fiction. Visit AnnParker.net for more information.